Chapter 31
Katzi walked into the Royal Holodeck, slightly surprised to see a re-creation of what seemed like part of a huge and modern city. Buildings and paved streets did look rather well kept, though there were some signs of graffiti to be seen here and there. Personal motorized transportation devices on rubber wheels and in all kinds of shapes and colors lined the streets. The only thing that was really missing was any sign of sentient life... well life other than plant life since any 'life' created on the holodeck would not actually be sentient anyway.
She walked down the street a little until she reached a small square that was void of any vehicles, and some signs at the beginning of the square said 'no parking' in the language of species 4,173. There she finally saw the first signs of 'life.' She slowly came closer to the six people standing in front of some monument. They were clearly from six different species, though funny enough none of them was from species 4,173. There were two men, two women, and two of a species where guessing which sex they were was impossible since men and women looked alike, unless you checked in one particular spot.
"I am Katzi of,"
She was interrupted by one of the women. "We know who you are. We have all the information we need to know about you. We are your trainers. We were considered the best in our fields on our worlds before the Borg came."
"You might want to know," one of the men added, "that though these bodies are holographic, we are real. We are in holodecks on the ships and planet bases we are assigned to and we are lending our real mind to these copies of our body, you might say."
"I thought that the Borg had deemed this technology impractical for use," Katzi frowned, calling on all she could remember of information that had merely shot by during regenerating.
"Impractical doesn't mean impossible," The man said. "It merely means that it is not really fit for general use. This technology needs a Borg information beam array that is dedicated to sending only the information of a single person. So that means that just with us being here we are taking up six beam arrays, and six of the beam arrays of Unimatrix 01 to receive our transmission. That you are on Unimatrix 01 is even the only reason why this is possible. As you see, totally impractical for normal use. But then, training the Royal Guards is definitely a little bit more than normal use."
"We are here to train you and bring your knowledge up to the level that is demanded of the Royal Guard that is tasked with protecting the Queen even in situations where normally no guards would be needed," One of the gender neutral people said.
After receiving a nod of understanding from Katzi, the person continued. "It is often at times like that; when things look absolutely secure, that assassins like to strike. We are given free hand in your training, as long as we keep certain parameters in mind. So good news for you, we are not allowed to let you die. Bad news for you, we are allowed to let you be wounded to the point where you have to be beamed to sickbay so that you won't die. Keep that in mind. We may not be real body wise, but we are real mind wise. We will not hesitate to give you a nice wound so that you remember some stupid mistake."
"Also," The second man said, "The same goes for enemies you will eventually face on this holodeck. Forget that they are not real because they will hurt you if they can. There are no holodeck safeties as we train, with the exception that if it looks like you are about to die, you are beamed to sickbay; that's it."
"I understand," Katzi assured. "I do realize that too much safety is counterproductive."
"Good," The first woman that had spoken said again. "In that case let me introduce." She pointed to one of the men. "This is Master Grua, his specialty lies in unarmed combat."
Master Grua stepped forward and looked Katzi up and down a bit before speaking up. "You are a broad woman, and damn impressively muscled. Do you think that it will help you win a fight?"
"Yes and no," Katzi said. "Yes in the fact that my body alone is often enough to prevent people from even starting a fight. Also, strength does help against untrained people that normally only rely on their own strength. There's a saying on Zamona; 'there is always a bigger bully than you.' Though I don't think or act like a bully, I was more than once the person that beat some sense in to people that thought that they were the toughest thing around. Having said that, I have also learned that my strength and body can be used against me by people that have been trained in how to do so. In situations like that, my body can actually be a disadvantage."
Master Grau nodded. "We have been given special permission to access all information of your mind scans, including that what normally is filtered out. Am I right in guessing that right now you are probably thinking about a former lover of yours? Small for a Zamonan warrior, but still capable of keeping up with you in training because she knew how to use her smaller body, as well as your bigger body, against you?"
"Indeed," Katzi agreed. "I know not to be misguided by how a body looks."
"Good. My task will be to train you in how to use your body right in unarmed combat. So that you can turn the table on people like that, so to speak. That they will see you and know for sure that they can beat you because they have trained extensively how to take out a huge person like you, only to find out too late that now you have also been trained in how to counteract them."
Master Grau gestured to one of the gender neutral people. "This is Master Oliankia."
Master Oliankia came a step closer as master Grau stepped back into the line. "My fields of expertise lie in speed and pain. To explain the last first. Borg drones can ignore pain; very convenient. But pain can be your friend. Pain tells your body how it is doing, what to look out for, what to protect. I will train you to where your pain threshold will be a lot higher than it is now, and to where you will think of switching your pain sensibility off only as a last resort. To answer the question that people normally ask now; yes, you will suffer; it will urge you on to learn faster. I will also train you in how to read your pain. Pain is not just pain; it has flavors."
A hand shot out and hit Katzi surprisingly softly on the arm, which just as surprisingly resulted in a bolt of burning pain shooting up her arm. "To you this now feels like pain. But I will train you to the point where that pain will feel like information, to where that pain will tell you that your arm is alright, but that for the next ten minutes you can only use it for thirty percent, and how you should use your arm instead for that period of time to still get the best out of it."
"I understand," Katzi assured while willing herself not to rub her arm. The pain did not worry her. She had felt pain in her training as a warrior, and after that she had lived with the pain of a broken back for months. No pain during training had ever been that bad, and she had survived that pain day after day for four months without complaining about it.
"Good," Master Oliankia approved. "Second thing, speed. We are lucky in regards to the fact that the Zamonan fighting style finds speed very important. What is it that one of your trainers once told you? 'In a fight there are only two kinds of fighters; the quick and the dead.' I agree. But blind speed is also not right. Now that you are a Royal Guard you will need to learn how to hold back until there is no other option, and only then use your speed. If you were the Royal Guard of the Zamonan Queen that might be different. There you can act because the person that threatens the Queen is sentenced to death automatically by your constitution. Here you are the Royal Guard of the Borg Queen. She might ignore a threat to her life because it would make negotiation more difficult if you just killed the entire ambassadorial team simply because they said that they might try to kill One of Many. I will teach you that border between waiting and using the speed that the Zamonan already trained you in. Of course, I will try to enhance that speed even more, but on that field you are already excellent."
Master Oliankia stepped away slightly and nodded to the second man. "Allow me to introduce Master Zwiala to you."
As Master Oliankia stepped back in line, Master Zwiala stepped forward.
"Greetings Warrior. My expertise is in weapons. I know that you're very good with your sword; so good in fact that you could teach me a few things. But that's not what I'll be training you in. My expertise lies not in the fact that I'm a master in one weapon; my expertise lies in the fact that I can use many weapons. I've not yet come across a weapon that I didn't know how to operate, given some time to have a quick look for the more advanced weapons of course. I'll train you in those. I'll train you in how to use phasers, disrupters, knives, axes, clubs, bottles. Look around you. How many things do you see that you might use as a weapon in a fight?"
Katzi took a few seconds to look before answering, "Twenty-seven."
Master Zwiala nodded. "Not bad for someone that has been brought up with the focus on sword use. But also not good enough. By the time I'm done with you I will ask you that question again in this very location, and your answer will be 348."
Katzi couldn't help but look around once more. With an indulgent smile Master Zwiala pointed to some things that Katzi had missed.
"Those are weapons too?" Katzi asked, wondering how a small twig that she could snap between her fingers and a piece of paper could be considered weapons.
"By the time I'm done with you, you won't be able to walk into a room without seeing weapons all around you," Master Zwiala assured. "Don't worry. It'll become such a part of you that you won't even notice that you're doing it. But if you ever need a weapon for something then you'll know exactly where they are."
Master Zwiala introduced Katzi to Master Queria, the woman who had spoken to Katzi first. Once Master Queria she had explained what she would train the Zamonan in, she introduced Master Hi'li'io, the second 'gender neutral' person, to Katzi. Lastly she was introduced to the woman that hadn't spoken a single word during the introductions.
Master Hi'li'io bowed slightly before saying, "And talking about you killing people; this is Master Gwenia."
"Greetings to you," Master Gwenia said with a very soft spoken and pleasant sounding voice. "The reason why I was introduced last is because you'll be mine for the rest of the day. The others will now go back to their own homes, so to speak. You'll never know who you'll meet on what day for what training and for how long. You might be trained in three different subjects in one day, or trained in the same subject for several days. We'll decide as your training goes along. Please, allow me the pleasure of walking with me."
Katzi bowed to the other five people like she had always done at home to the trainers; bowing to show respect, but never taking her eyes off them. Showing that their lessons were producing a vigilant warrior.
They started to stroll down one of the streets that ended in the square and after a moment of silence, Master Gwenia said in a soft voice, "Unlike the lessons you'll receive from my honored colleagues, I'm afraid that my lessons will be rather... boring. You see, most of our time we'll merely be talking. I hope you don't mind walking; I prefer to walk as I train. It makes for a loose and informal atmosphere."
"I don't mind at all; in fact I enjoy a nice walk at any time," Katzi assured.
"Good, good," Master Gwenia said almost absentmindedly. "The others will train you in when to guard, when to fight, when to hurt, how to think, and when to kill. I only come in on that last point. You see, killing is easy. It's the surrounding feelings that make it such a complex issue. People start to like the killing, or people get sick and then get killed themselves because they didn't see the second enemy because they were too busy puking. I'll train you in how to kill without it affecting you in either way. We don't want you to become sick, but we also don't want you to start liking it. You have never killed, but we cannot have you hesitate if it's ever needed. I'll train you to the point where seeing someone with their head cut off, or their intestines spilling out, will affect you just as much as seeing a straw dummy with its head cut off. Something you look at and then dismiss because it's no longer a threat."
"How will you make sure that I won't start liking it?" Katzi asked. On Zamona she had known a few people that always volunteered when there was a hunt for a wild animal that threatened a village. They liked the kill. You could see it in their eyes, even their personality became different when a hunt was announced. She didn't want to become one of those people.
"You will find out the exact how in your lessons," Master Gwenia said softly. "But in short, I'll train you to where you realize that life is the most important thing a person has, and that you should respect that property. That will prevent you from killing for the fun of it because it can never be fun because you know that you just destroyed something you yourself value as much as your own life. But if someone were to attack you, you'll then not hesitate to defend yourself or the Queen because then it was that person's own stupid choice as to what they did with that precious thing called life. And it was their own choice to do something that resulted in certain death. This approach has served me well, and all the assassins I ever trained in my life were all honorable and they respected life, and only took the life that was needed to fulfill the mission. I pride myself in the fact that not once has any of my students ever hesitated when the time came for them to kill for the first time."
"I... see," Katzi said slowly. Assassin. From the first second the woman had spoken there had been something... creepy about her. Oh, she was soft spoken and her voice was almost seductive, just like the rest of her person was, but still. There had been something that had put the hairs in Katzi's neck on end when she had spoken.
Master Gwenia laughed, it sounded like a sweet melody. "Don't worry, there's no commission for your life. If there were you would be dead now."
Then all friendliness disappeared and there was a cold and deadly look on that never the less beautiful face. "But we are here to train you to the point that someone like me would not be able to kill the Queen."
Then the smile was back. "In case you are wondering, just like you I found a new life with the Borg. But unlike you who joined because she wanted to, I stayed because I wanted to live a little longer yet. The Government on our planet decided that I was too powerful in the Assassins guild and didn't want me to become the Prefect of the guild they think they are controlling. They put a commission of ten million bars on my head, my dead head. That was too much temptation even for the students I trained in my own school. And then there were of course the students and masters of the other two hundred schools to think of. So after having, um, defended myself 32 times, I felt that it was time to leave and start anew on some other planet. Then our ship came across the Borg and they made me an offer I couldn't refuse."
"Being assimilated you mean?" Katzi asked.
Master Gwenia nodded. "That would be the offer I am talking about."
"And yet here you are training the person who is meant to protect the Borg Queen," Katzi couldn't help but point out.
"The Queen has some interesting ideas," Master Gwenia said with a shrug. "It will be interesting to be alive to see those changes."
"That's quite a change from your normal way of living though," Katzi noted.
"Is it?" Master Gwenia countered. "True, I won't go out to collect commissions anymore. But then, I haven't been doing that for years. I trained the people that went out and they then paid me twenty percent of the commissions they collected. You are just the beginning. I already have others that I'll soon be training when I'm not spending my time with you. The Queen needs protecting, yes. But so do other people in the Collective. With the Individualist drone system you once more have drones that have feelings and could never bring themselves to kill. You need other people, people that are ready to die, and kill, to protect the person they are guarding. My skills of teaching people how to kill are in demand with the Borg. Just that now I can stop looking over my shoulder to see if someone I trained is coming so that they can try and show me how good they have become."
Despite the fact that Master Gwenia was still giving her the creeps, Katzi had to chuckle. "Isn't that ironic? Linked drones can kill as soon as they get the command. Most Individualist drones can't and need to be taught how to do it... so that they then can go on hoping for the rest of their life that they never have to do it."
Master Gwenia shrugged once more, elegantly of course. "And there our lesson for today starts. Tell me, why do you hope you never have to kill?"
"I know I might have to," Katzi began, only to be interrupted.
"That's not what I asked. If I ask you a question, I want that question answered. I also want your honest thoughts and not what you think I might want to hear, or what you think your Mate would have liked you to say, or what you think might go over well with the Hive if they knew it. Don't worry, our conversations are all filtered out when regenerating. Only you and I will ever know what was said in our discussions, unless you go and start telling people."
Katzi was quiet for a moment before finally starting hesitantly, "Well, I myself would not want..."
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
The reign of One of Many, née Annika Hansen; Queen of Borg.
Year 00, Month 06, Day 25, Hour 19, Minute 05.
"So, this is where you'll be sitting?" Katzi asked as she let her hand drop onto the First Officer's chair.
"Yep. Though, to be honest with you, I wonder just how much time I really will be spending here," Pagsha said thoughtfully.
"What do you mean?" Katzi asked, looking over her shoulder at her lover.
"Well, I may be the First Officer, but I'm also Seven and B'Elanna's assistant. I like that job, and Seven told me that she and B'Elanna would like me to continue to serve as that assistant. Seven assured me that they would find a stand-by for me that can take my place on the bridge whenever I'm not there."
"Then why give you a Senior Staff position at all?"
"As Seven said, she prefers my abilities in the senior staff as well. My personal opinion is that she kinda wants me to be an unofficial link between the senior staff and her. Not to spy on them or anything, but more to give Seven an impression on how they 'feel' as a team. You know, the stuff that's filtered out when they regenerate. Seeing that this is the first Senior Staff of Unimatrix 01, it's of paramount importance that they work well together as a group. And with 'work well' I mean more than the Borg acceptable levels kind of well."
"But this is your chair when you are on the bridge," Katzi persisted. After a nod from Pagsha she suddenly said, "In that case; sit. I want to see my little one sitting in the Second-in-Command's chair of the biggest and most powerful known ship in the galaxy."
"Come on now," Pagsha said as she sat down in the chair. "I'm pretty sure that somewhere in the galaxy there's a ship that puts Unimatrix 01 to shame."
"Probably," Katzi agreed. "But that's why I said 'known ship'." Katzi walked around the chair until she was standing directly behind her lover.
"You know something? You look really hot in that chair. You look so hot that it makes me really hot."
Katzi placed her hands on Pagsha's shoulders before leaning in and placing a kiss at the base of her neck.
"In fact, seeing you sitting here makes me so hot that I really want you; right now, right here."
"Here?" Pagsha said, trying to swallow with a suddenly dry throat. "I don't think that's,"
"I don't care what you think," Katzi interrupted. "Remember the deal? Whenever I want some, I get some, unless you aren't in the mood. But the mood is not the problem, is it? You are in the mood. I know it, and you know it."
Katzi lowered her hands until she was covering Pagsha's breasts. "And your nipples are already so hard just from the idea that I can see them through your uniform. So, I want some, right now. And I'm going to fuck you baby, right here, right now, in this chair, so that from now on every time you have to sit here your mind goes back to how I took you here, time and again. Now take off that uniform, or I'll do it for you."
Pagsha slowly opened the uniform, separating the upper and lower part. She knew that there was no arguing the point, not that she wanted to anyway. This was exactly why she wanted a dominant partner. The fact that Katzi had just told her to get naked and that she had to do it, was making Pagsha hot beyond belief. At the moment she was at the mercy of her lover, and it made her dripping wet.
Continued...